ABSTRACT
Napier arrived at Wingo Sound on 17 March, waiting another two days for the rest of his fog-dispersed fleet. A brief visit to Copenhagen, meeting the King and the British minister, Buchanan, made him decide to pass the Great Belt at once. Admiralty orders to wait appeared to him to conflict with the later dispatch from the Foreign Office requiring him to prevent any Russian ships leaving the Baltic. This could not be ensured while he remained at Wingo. As the fleet weighed on the 23rd it was joined by Corry, Neptune, Monarch, 84 and the paddle steamers Vulture and Bulldog. The Danes, under pressure from Russia, refused pilots, forcing Napier to send the small steamers ahead to mark the shoals. Passing the Belt took two days; the fleet anchored briefly at Kiel before moving to Kioge Bay on 1 April. Shortly before anchoring Cressy and Princess Royal collided, and although neither was badly damaged Napier’s nerves were shaken. Rear-Admiral Plumridge’s squadron went ahead, meeting Miranda late on the 25th. Captain Lyons reported there were no warships at Reval or Port Baltic, and the entrance to the Gulf of Finland was choked with loose ice. 1
